How Trump’s disciplined speech came together

President Donald Trump sat in the White House Map Room on Tuesday with a coterie of advisers, a black Sharpie, stacks of paper and a teleprompter. Beside him much of the day — the 40th day of his presidency — were Steve Bannon and Stephen Miller. Other aides frequently circled in, from Gary Cohn to Reince Priebus to Kellyanne Conway to Jared Kushner to Sean Spicer to Hope Hicks, suggesting language and offering advice.

Trump remained unhappy with parts of the speech, scribbling notes on printed drafts for aides to incorporate and bring back. He practiced twice on the teleprompter, timing the cadence for specific lines. He continually peppered his team with questions.

Story Continued Below

The president spent the day of his first address to a joint session of Congress, according to multiple White House officials, much as presidents have before him: revising, reworking and rehearsing. The attention to detail was somewhat unusual for a president who often seems to wing it.

On Tuesday morning, he had “marked up, from front to back,” 17 or 18 pages of text, one White House official said. The president edited again at 3 p.m. The first paragraph was edited as late as 5 p.m.

Around 6:15 p.m., he was convinced the speech had come together. Most in the White House never saw the remarks before he delivered them, because aides were conscientious about avoiding leaks. He kept practicing in the presidential limo on the way over.

What emerged was a presidential address carrying little of the jarring tone and “American carnage” of his previous speeches, with a similar message but delivered in a far lighter tone. It heartened his Republican allies and soothed some worried Democrats. While some Democrats criticized the speech, and questions lingered about whether he could follow through, for one night it seemed Trump had done what his Republican allies wanted him to do: seem presidential and deliver a message that hewed to the party line.

“The delivery was solid. It had true moments of emotion,” said presidential historian Douglas Brinkley. “It was the moment he went from being a partisan figure to trying to be a uniting figure. For the first time, he seemed like a president. He seemed to have the aura. It was the high-water mark of his presidency.”

One senior administration official said Trump was “very pleased” afterward. Back at the White House, he huddled with senior staff in the residence to ask them what they'd heard about the speech and thank them, said several people present. He told aides that members of Congress had given him rave reviews.

The senior White House official said Vince Haley, a Trump speechwriter, had come up with the idea of framing the speech around the upcoming 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

Allies say Trump still needs to focus on the details and that it will take more than one speech to advance his legislative agenda. And Democrats said to not read too much into the speech, questioning some of his facts and casting doubt on his ability to fulfill his promises.

“The speech and reality have never been more detached,” said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York.

Brinkley said that most Americans don't remember a speech and that Trump will still have to deliver. “He made a lot of promises he doesn't have to fulfill,” he said. “You can say you're going to Mars, you can say you're going to build that, you can say there are all these problems that you didn't create.”

Trump, senior White House officials say, took an active role in crafting parts of the speech. He thought it needed a far less aggressive tone than his inaugural address because he was speaking in the U.S. Capitol and that others had mischaracterized his message.

He sought advice from allies and aides and New York friends. He was focused on how to "get the part right," one top adviser said. "The guy knows the crowd. He understands delivery."

Rep. Chris Collins (R-N.Y.) said, "I think Democrats were even more surprised than the Republicans. I'm not going to question who was able to emphasize the tone, delivery and substance, but I thought it was great for the joint session."

There were last-minute decisions and reversals. At 6:30 a.m. Tuesday, aides were in Miller's office, homing in on their Obamacare specifics.

"We decided last night that it needed to be rewritten," one administration official said.

Then, in a meeting with TV anchors Tuesday, Trump seemed to indicate major movement on immigration policy — a call for a bipartisan bill to come to his desk. But he didn't emphasize that in his speech, leaving Washington guessing whether he had changed his mind, sent it up as a trial balloon or never actually intended to do it.

A senior administration official also said references to NASA and space travel were dropped at the last minute because of time constraints. "We wanted to keep the speech to an hour," this person said. Other details on taxes and border tariffs were also dropped to streamline the speech, this person said.

On Monday afternoon, Trump told Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Paul Ryan that he would include a promise of tax credits for health care, a person briefed on the conversation said.

While aides did some of the heavy lifting in drafting part of the speech — the framework was provided by Stephen Miller and Steve Bannon — they said Trump was interested in every paragraph and wanted nearly daily updates.

He often gave aides and advisers broad ideas and told them to add paragraphs or do research. He sometimes called speechwriters several times in an afternoon.

He wanted to address the recent outbreak of anti-Semitic attacks and February's Black History Month early on in the speech because he felt he was being unfairly attacked and "wanted to set the tone," one senior official said.

After he promised aides he’d stick to the script, he kept his word. The president largely hewed to the teleprompter — though with occasional Trumpian flourishes.

Instead of a "great wall," Trump described a "great, great wall." Instead of "billions of dollars," he referred to "billions and billions of dollars." He said money "poured in very much," which wasn't in the teleprompter. He alluded to having declined a ride on a Harley-Davidson.

But most of his remarks were read straight from the teleprompter, a tool he had spent years deriding other politicians for using.

On taxes, Trump's team was determined to give some support to Ryan's border tax while not "alienating senators," one person said.

Aides had bowled in the White House alley with their Capitol Hill colleagues last week. They had surrogates prepared on Capitol Hill to send tweets and go on TV. White House press secretary Sean Spicer made an unusual trip to the Hill on Tuesday and fielded questions from congressional aides.

Though friends had worried Trump might grow tired in a long and structured speech, the delivery showed remarkable discipline for a man who likes to riff wildly, ignore the teleprompter, bash the media and fire up a room.

"I think he can weave his agenda with an optimistic message,” longtime adviser Roger Stone said. “He is more than capable of that. We have to give him a chance to do that."

Newsmax CEO Chris Ruddy, a friend who often talks to Trump, said, "if he keeps the positive tone, he can get legislation through, and he will get a bump in his approval ratings.”